New All-Time Record Sales Month, again, in April for BMW Motorrad

After achieving record sales during the first quarter of 2014, BMW Motorrad remains firmly on course for success. In April, 16,344 (prev. yr.: 14,587 units) motorcycles and maxi scooters were supplied to customers worldwide. This represents an increase of 12.0% or 1,757 units as compared to April 2013. April 2014 is thus the most successful month ever in the history of the company. All in all, BMW Motorrad has supplied 45,063 (prev. yr.: 39,319 units) vehicles to customers since the beginning of the year. This means that as of April, sales have exceeded the equivalent period of the previous year by 14.6 % or 5,744 vehicles.

The R1200GS remains BMW’s overall top seller.

Heiner Faust, BMW Motorrad Head of Sales and Marketing said, “With growth of 12.0% in April and 14.6% for the period up to April, we have been able to build very successfully on the momentum of an excellent season start. We have seen double-digit growth every month since the start of the year. Sales results in April even surpassed the existing record of March, making it the best month ever for BMW Motorrad.”

This excellent sales increase has been achieved on the basis of ongoing stable market developments worldwide. In Europe (not including Germany) BMW Motorrad had supplied 2,841 vehicles more as of April than in the first four months of the previous year. In Germany, sales are 672 units above the previous year’s level. BMW Motorrad is also seeing impressive growth in the USA and Asia.

BMW Motorrad USA reported sales of 2,229 motorcycles in April, an all-time record, representing an increase of 41.9% from the total of 1,571 motorcycles sold in April 2013. The three new-for-2014 boxer models helped drive growth of 87% for the R-Series with the new R1200GS Adventure the top-selling model in the month with 297 sales. Strong contributions from the R1200RT and R1200GS (both with 208 units) resulted in 913 boxer deliveries in April compared to 487 this time last year.

BMW Motorrad USA also reported a steady flow of arrivals ensured the all-new S1000R reached dealers across the country and with 158 retails, the new four-cylinder roadster helped S-Series performance to climb by 43% with a total of 417 sales compared to 292 in April of 2013. With G-Series entry level models up 62%, maxi-scooter sales up 44% and middleweight F-Series models up 21%, total sales in April eclipsed the previous all-time record of 2,003 units set in February of 2003.

Woldwide, the new R1200GS remains the top-selling model with 9,826 units sold. The new R1200GS Adventure (5,440 units as of April), the new R1200RT (3,760 units as of April) and the newcomers in the BMW model program R nineT (2,024 units as of April) and S1000R (1,679 as of April) are likewise seeing very strong demand overall.

Heiner Faust comments, “The excellent sales results mean we are very confident in terms of how the season will develop. Demand for our newly launched boxer and S series models is especially pleasing. We started supplying the BMW C evolution on May 2nd 2014. After initial test rides, the world’s first electrically powered maxi scooter in the premium segment has received excellent reviews from the media, so now we are very much looking forward to the response of our customers in Europe.”

2014 First Quarter Report

BMW also announced their first quarter (through March 31, 2014) financial results, which showed BMW Motorrad had the best first quarter in its history. Overall 28,719 motorcycles were sold in the first quarter of 2014 which was up 16.1% from the previous year sales of 24,7321 units. The principal factor in this positive trend says BMW was the extremely mild winter in Europe, which effectively brought forward the start of the motorcycling season. Sales of BMW motorcycles in Europe rose by 19.6% to 17,098 units (2013: 14,300 units). Sales volume in Germany increased by 11.3% to 4,796 units (2013: 4,309 units). Particularly strong growth was recorded in both Italy (2,892 units; + 17.8%; 2013: 2,454 units) and France (2,725 units; + 21.7%; 2013: 2,240 units). The number of BMW motorcycles sold in the USA during the first quarter rose by 4.2% to 3,397 units (2013: 3,259 units).

Production increased with 38,649 motorcycles produced during the first quarter of 2014—9.7% up on the same period last year (2013: 35,2212 units). The workforce was up slightly compared to previous year as the BMW Group employed 2,791 people in the motorcycles segment at the end of March (2013: 2,742 employees; +1.8 %).

In line with its strong first-quarter sales, revenue for BMW’s motorcycle segment rose by 8.3% to €472 million (2013: €436 million). Segment EBIT totalled €64 million (2013: €51 million; + 25.5%), while profit before tax also rose significantly by 26.0% to €63 million (2013: €50 million). At both levels, these figures represented the best quarterly earnings performance in the history of the motorcycles segment.

The BMW Group

Update 5/13/2014: A total of 162,093 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand vehicles were delivered to customers this April, an increase of 4.3% compared the same month last year (prev. yr. 155,427), making it the best April ever. Year-to-date Group sales climbed 7.5% to a new high, with 649,118 vehicles delivered in the first four months of the year (prev. yr. 603,631).

BMW enjoyed its best ever April with a total of 140,840 vehicles being delivered to customers (prev. yr. 130,604 / +7.8%). Sales for the year-to-date climbed 11.2% to 569,100 (prev. yr. 512,010). April saw 20,917 MINIs delivered to customers (prev. yr. 24,583/ -14.9%). Year-to-date sales are down 13.2% with 78,785 units sold (prev. yr. 90,739). This expected decrease in sales is due to the recent model change in the core model MINI Hatch.

Deliveries of BMW and MINI models in Asia increased by 20.6% to 209,558 vehicles (prev. yr. 173,738) in the year-to-date. In mainland China, sales rose 25.2% to 145,716 (prev. yr. 116,381). Sales were also strong in South Korea, where 14,097 vehicles have been delivered in the first four months of the year (prev. yr. 11,990 / +17.6%). Japan saw growth of 15.0% in the same period, with 21,510 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 18,707).

In the Americas, a total of 135,827 BMW and MINI vehicles were delivered to customers year-to-date (prev. yr. 132,865 / +2.2%). In the USA, sales for the first four months of 2014 rose 2.5%, with a total of 110,626 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 107,968). Sales in Brazil in the same period climbed 23.3% to 5,586 (prev. yr. 4,531) and deliveries in Mexico rose by 13.7%, with a total of 4,610 vehicles delivered to customers (prev. yr. 4,056).

The European market continues to show signs of recovery with a total of 283,702 BMW and MINI models delivered in the first four months of the year (prev. yr. 277,095 / +2.4%). Sales in Scandinavia are growing significantly in 2014, climbing 20.8% in the year-to-date to 14,363 vehicles (prev. yr. 11,893).